1. Field
The present disclosure relates to optical communications equipment and, more specifically but not exclusively, to optical memory and optical switches.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the disclosure. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.
Certain optical signal-processing applications, e.g., optical packet synchronization, all-optical routing, all-optical bit/label/header extraction or insertion, optical packet swapping in a data stream, etc., may require or benefit from optical buffering. An optical buffer is a device that is capable of temporarily storing light. As such, an optical buffer can be used to perform on optical signals some processing functions analogous to the processing functions that a conventional electrical buffer may perform on electrical signals. For example, in some applications, an optical buffer may operate to temporarily store a data packet encoded in a modulated optical carrier, without converting that modulated optical carrier into electrical form. An optical-buffer technology is currently being actively developed for this and other applications.